The Gazette 1993

OCTOBER 1993

In the chapter on insurance some of the statistical information produced is quite startling such as • Of £100 premium paid almost £50 is spent on administration by the insurance company. • Motor insurance in Ireland produced profit every year but one from '79 to '89. • Overwhelmingly, the average cost In summary this book is and should become an indispensable handbook for employers, employees, trade union officials, insurance claims handlers, i safety officers, personnel officers, solicitors, barristers and both professors and students of the law of employers' liability and safety in industry, to all of whom it is strongly recommended. All of these people and in particular the legal profession owe I a very considerable debt of gratitude to Mr McGarr for having produced what this reviewer considers to be an indispensable publication in this area of human activity and law and in particular for the benefit of the workforce in all types of employment in this country. of insurance settled claims in Ireland is less than £2,500. (Third Edition), Edited by Patti Havers, Havers' Directories Limited, Distributed World-Wide by Sweet & Maxwell, £85 Sterling, hardback, 1993. Lord Havers, the former Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, notes in the foreword that the independent practising Bar, in addition to providing a corps of skilled and experienced advocates, offers a quite remarkable pool of specialist legal advice and expertise on I virtually any aspect of the law which is available to any firm of solicitors and to many other professionals who now have approved direct access to the Bar. He | notes that the well-researched and com- piled Companion to the Bar provides invaluable information about the UK Bruce St. John Blake Havers' Companion to The Bar 1993/1994

Bar and the services offered by individ- ual barristers to an extent never before attempted or available. In short, it is the indispensable reference work for all who use and wish to make the most of the expertise available of those who practise j at the Bar of England and Wales. The writer of this short notice ; appreciates that the Irish Bar is much j more limited in scope than the Bar of I England and Wales. But there is merit | in compiling a similar companion j although some may argue that the j Directory of the Law Society provides general information on Irish barristers. j It is trite to say that lawyers like j members of other professions are under i difficult pressures for ever greater quality of service. In the introduction to the book, the writer notes that the break- down of domestic restrictive practices will accentuate these pressures. In the j United Kingdom, the Bar has relaxed its rules restricting advertising and has permitted barristers to supply information about themselves, their j experience and practices. Many would I disagree with that philosophy in this jurisdiction but the Bar in England and Wales has adopted a cautious reaction to these changes because it is a profession that has a strong tradition | against "touting" for work. Havers' Companion to the Bar provides extensive individual biographical ! profiles; apparently it is the key J ingredient of the most successful legal | directories in the United States and will j be increasingly seen by the Bar, who supply the information, and solicitors i and others, as essential to a successful | and dynamic referral system in a ! changing competitive environment. i Every barrister practising in chambers | in England and Wales is invited annually to provide as much information about himself or herself as he or she wants. The individual biographies are entered completely free of charge. Of course, the individual biographies are not objective but they do provide a wealth of information. Readers may be interested in what is called the "Cab-Rank Rule" which is referred to in the Companion. The rule is that every barrister is under an

important professional obligation to accept any brief to appear for any lay client provided he or she is available and the case is within his or her field of practice. Until recently, barristers in England and Wales were permitted to accept instructions to represent clients only from solicitors. Solicitors continue to be the main source of a barrister's work and indeed only a solicitor can brief a barrister to appear in court. But barristers who so choose, however, are now permitted to accept instructions directly from members of a large number of other professions for advisory, tribunal and arbitration work, subject to certain conditions and restrictions. This is known as "Direct Professional Access". The organisations include: • The Chartered Association of Certified Accountants; • The Incorporated Society of Valuers and Auctioneers; • The Institute of Chartered Accountants; • The Institute of Taxation; • The Institute of Mechanical Engineers; • The Faculty of Actuaries; • The Institute of Electrical Engineers and a host of others. litigators, it will probably become the standard directory: the detail and clarity will be hard to equal. There is no doubt that this is an impressive work; it is also fascinating for those who have any dealings with English lawyers. Five thousand English biographies of barristers in practice in England and Wales are included. It deals with barristers who work in over 200 fields of practice. invaluable for those who deal with English clients who seek advice in England and Wales in relation to litigation and other aspects of specialist legal advice. I Dr. Eamonn G. Hall To sum up, Havers' Companion to the Bar, is a compendium of information Previous reviews have stated that not only is this a great Directory but a good read. Others have noted that for solicitors and other professional

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